‘I did suggest it and I’m sure she will want to come up. But she says not now. She prefers to be in her own home. And I prefer you to see her there, on her own territory, where she’ll feel most comfortable. You can do this, Sandy. I’d not send you to London if I didn’t think you’d do it well.’

Perez left Sandy to get ready and went outside to find Joseph. The older man was in the barn doing something to the insides of an ancient tractor. When he saw Perez he wiped his hands on an oily piece of cloth. He looked very pale.

‘This is a terrible business. Two deaths on Setter land.’

‘Nothing to do with the place, surely,’ Perez said.

‘I don’t know. That’s how it seems.’

‘You were there last night.’

‘How do you know that?’ The older man looked up, startled. It was as if Perez had performed some sort of conjuring trick.

‘I saw you through the window. You looked upset. I didn’t want to disturb you. What time did you get there?’

‘I don’t know. After my tea.’

‘Did you go outside? Down to the dig?’

‘No.’

‘Did you see anything? Hear anything?’ Perez looked at Sandy’s father. In the gloom of the barn it was hard to tell what he was thinking.

‘No,’ Joseph said. ‘I just go there some nights to drink and forget. I didn’t hear a thing.’

Chapter Twenty-five

Sandy arrived at Heathrow at the height of the rush hour. He’d never liked the idea of the Underground, even before the bombings were all over the television. It seemed unnatural being shut in a tunnel, not being able to see where you were going. Anyway, he’d had a look at the map on the back of the A–Z Perez had loaned him and it all seemed too complicated for him to work out. He couldn’t make sense of the different-coloured lines. Instead he got the direct bus to King’s Cross. That was where it terminated, so there should be no danger of getting out at the wrong place. Perez had asked Morag to book him into a Travel Inn in the Euston Road. Sandy would check in and collect his thoughts before he went to speak to Gwen James. He was still astonished that his boss had trusted him to do the interview, felt extreme pride and extreme fear in the space of a minute.